[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5603-5605]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  ADDRESS BY HIS MAJESTY KING ABDULLAH II IBN AL HUSSEIN, KING OF THE 
                      HASHEMITE KINGDOM OF JORDAN.

  King ABDULLAH II. Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Honorable 
Senators and Members of Congress, my friends, thank you for such a warm 
welcome. It is an honor to stand, as my father did, before this 
historic institution. Allow me to thank you on behalf of all 
Jordanians.
  Jordan and the United States have had a long friendship. It is a 
special privilege to be here in the year that the American Congress 
welcomes its first woman Speaker and its first Muslim-American Member 
of Congress. These milestones send a message around the world about the 
America I know so well, a place where individuality is nurtured, a 
place where hard work is rewarded, a place where achievement is 
celebrated. The America I know so well believes that opportunity and 
justice belong to all.
  In my days in Massachusetts, I also learned something about New 
England virtues. There wasn't actually a law about talking too much, 
but there was definitely an attitude that you didn't speak unless you 
could improve on silence.
  Today, I must speak, and I cannot be silent.
  I must speak about a cause that is urgent for your people and for 
mine. I must speak about peace in the Middle East. I must speak about 
peace replacing the division, war, and conflict that have brought such 
disaster for the region and for the world.
  This was the cause that brought my father King Hussein here in 1994. 
With Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin beside him, he spoke of a new 
vision for the Middle East. Their courageous work for peace received 
bipartisan support from your leaders. And there was tremendous hope for 
a new era. There was tremendous hope that people would be brought 
together. There was tremendous hope that a final and comprehensive 
settlement of all the issues would be achieved.
  Thirteen years later, that work is still not completed. And until it 
is, we are all at risk. We are all at risk of being victims of further 
violence resulting from ideologies of terror and hatred. It is our 
greatest and most urgent duty to prevent such dangers to our region, to 
your country and to the world. The choice is ours: an open world full 
of promise, progress and justice for all; or a closed world of divided 
peoples, fear, and unfulfilled dreams. Nothing impacts this choice more 
than the future of peace in the Middle East.
  I come to you today at a rare, and indeed historic, moment of 
opportunity, when there is a new international will to end the 
catastrophe. And I believe that America, with its enduring values, its 
moral responsibility, and yes, its unprecedented power, must play the 
central role.
  Some may say, ``Peace is too difficult. We can live with the status 
quo.'' But, my friends, violent killings are taking place as part of 
this status quo. Palestinians and Israelis are not the only victims. We 
saw the violence ricochet into destruction in Lebanon last summer. And 
people around the world have been the victims of terrorists and 
extremists who use the grievances of this conflict to legitimize and 
encourage acts of violence. Americans and Jordanians and others have 
suffered and survived terrorist attacks. In this room, there are 
representatives of American families and Jordanian families who have 
lost loved ones. Thousands of people have paid the highest price, the 
loss of their life. Thousands more continue to pay this terrible price, 
for their loved ones will never return. Are we going to let these 
thousands of lives be taken in vain? Has it become acceptable to lose 
that most basic of human rights? The right to live?
  The status quo is also pulling the region and the world towards 
greater danger. As public confidence in the peace process has dropped, 
the cycle of crises is spinning faster, and with greater potential for 
destruction. Changing military doctrine and weaponry pose new dangers. 
Increasing numbers of external actors are intervening with their own 
strategic agendas, raising new dangers of proliferation and crisis. 
These are groups that seek even more division: faith against faith, 
nation against nation, community against community. Any further erosion 
in the situation would be serious for the future of moderation and 
coexistence, in the region and beyond. Have we all lost the will to 
live together in peace celebrating one another's strengths and 
differences?
  Some may say, ``But there are other, urgent challenges.'' How can 
there be anything more urgent than the restoration of a world where all 
people, not only some people, all people have the opportunity to live 
peacefully? This is not only a moral imperative. It is essential to the 
future of our world, because long-term, violent crisis is the enemy of 
all global prosperity and progress.
  Certainly our era faces critical issues. There is great public 
concern here, just as in our region, about the conflict in Iraq. The 
entire international community has vital decisions to make about the 
path forward, and how to ensure Iraq's security, unity, and future. But 
we cannot lose sight of a profound reality. The wellspring of regional 
division, the source of resentment and frustration far beyond, is the 
denial of justice and peace in Palestine.
  There are those who say, ``It's not our business.'' But this Congress 
knows: there are no bystanders in the 21st century. There are no 
curious onlookers. There is no one who is not affected by the division 
and hatred that is present in our world.
  Some will say: ``This is not the core issue in the Middle East.'' I 
come here today as your friend to tell you that this is the core issue. 
And this core issue is not only producing severe consequences for our 
region, it is producing severe consequences for our world.
  The security of all nations and the stability of our global economy 
are directly affected by the Middle East conflict. Across oceans, this 
conflict has estranged societies that should be friends. I meet Muslims 
thousands of miles away who have a deep, personal response to the 
suffering of the Palestinian people. They want to know how it is that 
ordinary Palestinians are still without rights and without a country. 
They ask whether the West really means what it says about equality and 
respect and universal justice.

[[Page 5604]]

  Yes, my friends, today I must speak. I cannot be silent.
  Sixty years of Palestinian dispossession, 40 years under occupation, 
a stop-and-go peace process, all this has left a bitter legacy of 
disappointment and despair on all sides. It is time to create a new and 
different legacy, one that begins right now; one that can set a 
positive tone for the American and Middle East relationship; one that 
can restore hope to our region's people, to your people, and to the 
people of this precious world. Nothing can achieve that more 
effectively, nothing can assert America's moral vision more clearly, 
nothing can reach and teach the world's youth more directly than your 
leadership in a peace process that delivers results not next year, not 
in 5 years, but this year.
  How do we get there? Not by a solution imposed by one side. A lasting 
peace can only be built on understanding, agreement and compromise.
  It begins with courage and vision. We, all of us, must take risks for 
peace. The Arab states recognized that reality in 2002, when we 
unanimously approved the Arab Peace Initiative. It puts forward a path 
for both sides to achieve what people want and need: a collective peace 
treaty with Israel and normal relations with every Arab state, 
collective security guarantees for all the countries of the region, 
including Israel, an end to the conflict, a dream every Israeli citizen 
has longed for since the creation of Israel, and an agreed solution to 
the refugee problem, a withdrawal from Arab territories occupied since 
1967, and a sovereign, viable, and independent Palestine.
  The commitment we made in the Arab Peace Initiative is real. And our 
states are involved in ongoing efforts to advance a fair, just, and 
comprehensive peace. His Majesty King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi 
Arabia initiated the 2002 proposal. Today, he continues to rally 
international support. Momentum is also building among Muslim countries 
outside the Arab world. Ten days ago, in Islamabad, the foreign 
ministers of key Muslim states met. They came together to assure 
Palestinians and Israelis that they are not alone, that we back their 
effort to make and build peace.
  The goal must be a peace in which all sides gain. It must be anchored 
in security and opportunity for all.
  It must be a peace that will free young Palestinians to focus on a 
future of progress and prosperity.
  It must be a peace that makes Israel a part of the neighborhood, a 
neighborhood that extends from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, across 
the breadth of the southern Mediterranean, to the coast of the Indian 
Ocean.
  It must be a peace that enables the entire region to look forward 
with excitement and hope, putting its resources into productive growth, 
partnering across borders to advance development, finding 
opportunities, and solving common challenges.
  This goal is visionary, but, my friends, it is attainable. History 
shows that longtime adversaries can define new relationships of peace 
and cooperation. The groundwork for a comprehensive, final settlement 
is already in place. At Taba, as in the Geneva Accords, the parties 
have outlined the parameters of the solution.
  But we need all hands on deck. The international community, 
especially the United States, must be engaged in moving the process 
forward to achieve real results. Above all, we must make our process 
serve our purpose. We must achieve an agreed solution to the conflict.
  Madam Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Honorable Members, your 
responsibility today is paramount. Your potential to help Palestinians 
and Israelis find peace is unrivaled. This is because the people of the 
region still regard the United States as the key to peace, the one 
country most capable of bringing the two sides closer together, holding 
them accountable, and making a just settlement reality.
  Time after time, there has been progress towards peace when Americans 
have actively engaged. Camp David, Madrid, Wye River, nearly every 
breakthrough was accomplished when America was determined to help the 
parties succeed.
  On behalf of all those who seek and strive for peace in my part of 
the world, I ask you now to exert that leadership once again. We ask 
you to join with us in a historic effort of courage and vision. We ask 
you to hear our call, to honor the spirit of King Hussein and Yitzhak 
Rabin, and help fulfill the aspirations of Palestinians and Israelis to 
live in peace today.
  Let me reaffirm that Jordan is committed to playing a positive role 
in the peace process. It is part of our larger commitment to global 
coexistence and progress. Ours is an Islamic country with a proud 
record of diversity, moderation, and shared respect.
  Allow me to say, we thank the Congress and the administration for 
supporting Jordan's progress and development. I deeply value the 
partnership between our peoples, and the contributions of so many 
Americans to the future of our country.
  My friends, ``A decent respect for the rights and dignity of all 
nations, large and small.'' That's how President Roosevelt--the great 
FDR--described the basis of American foreign policy. He pledged 
American support for the four freedoms, freedom from fear, from want, 
freedom of speech, and freedom of religion, everywhere in the world.
  The Four Freedoms speech was given right here, before Congress. And 
that is entirely fitting. Because it is here in the People's House that 
the voices and values of America have made hope real for so many 
people.
  Today, the people of the Middle East are searching for these four 
freedoms. Today, the people of the Middle East are searching for new 
hope, hope for a future of prosperity and peace. We have seen the 
danger and destruction of violence, hatred, and injustice. But we have 
also seen what people can achieve when they are empowered, when they 
break down walls, when they commit to the future. And we know that 
Middle East peace can be a global beginning, creating new possibilities 
for our region and the entire world.
  We look to you to play a historic role. Eleven American Presidents 
and 30 American Congresses have already faced this ongoing crisis. For 
not the future generation, but the generation alive today, let us say 
together: No more. Let us say together: Let's solve this. Let us say 
together: Yes, we will achieve this.
  No Palestinian father should be helpless to feed his family and build 
a future for his sons and daughters. No Israeli mother should fear when 
her child boards a bus. Not one more generation should grow up thinking 
that violence and conflict are the norm.
  As Roosevelt also said, ``The justice of morality must and will win 
in the end.'' But he knew that it was up to responsible nations to 
stand up for justice when injustice threatens.
  This is our challenge as well. And we must not leave it to another 
generation to meet this challenge.
  Thirteen years ago, my father was here to talk about his hopes for 
peace. Today, we are talking about a promise that is within our reach.
  We can wait no longer and that is why I am here before you. We must 
work together to restore Palestine, a nation in despair and without 
hope. We must work together to restore peace, hope and opportunity to 
the Palestinian people. And in so doing, we will begin a process of 
building peace, not only throughout the region, but throughout the 
world. How much more bloodshed and how many more lives will it cost for 
this grave situation to be resolved?
  I say: No more bloodshed and no more lives pointlessly taken.
  The young boy, traveling to school with his brother in Palestine, let 
him have a life of peace.
  The mother, watching with fear as her children board a bus in Israel, 
let her have a life of peace.
  The father in Lebanon, working hard to provide an education for his 
children, let him have a life of peace.
  The little girl, born in Iraq, with her wide eyes full of wonder, let 
her have a life of peace.
  The family, together eating their evening meal, in Asia, Africa, 
North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, 
let them all have a life of peace.

[[Page 5605]]

  Today my friends, we must speak. We cannot be silent.
  The next time a Jordanian, a Palestinian, or an Israeli comes before 
you, let it be to say: Thank you for helping peace become a reality.
  Peace be upon you.
  Thank you very much.
  [Applause, the Members rising.]
  At 11 o'clock and 35 minutes a.m., His Majesty King Abdullah II Ibn 
Al Hussein, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, accompanied by the 
committee of escort, retired from the Hall of the House of 
Representatives.
  The Deputy Sergeant at Arms escorted the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps 
from the Chamber.

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